Our Voice Matters

Our Voice Matters: Including People with Lived Experience in System Change
in Criminal Justice

Duration: 1. 4. 2022 – 31. 3. 2024

Places of implementation: Branches of RUBIKON Centrum, primarily a branch in Ostrava Donor: The project is being supported by the Committee of Good Will – the Olga Havel Foundation from the Active Citizens Fund. The programme promotes citizens’ active participation in the public life and decision making and empowerment of vulnerable groups. The Active Citizens Fund is financed from EEA and Norway Grants.

https://www.activecitizensfund.cz/
https://eeagrants.org/
https://osf.cz/
https://www.vdv.cz/
https://www.skautskyinstitut.cz/

Aim of the project: Aim of the project: To verify the use of the concept of empowering a
disadvantaged group of people with a criminal history and their involvement in policy making and
promoting systemic change in penal affairs and criminal justice.
Summary: The project is based on the belief that the target group of people with a criminal history
has a unique expertise based on lived experience. This lived experience can bring a new perspective
to defend their needs and provide inspiration for a more effective setting of the system of work with
the target group. The concept of client involvement at the level of influencing the system is still in its
infancy in the Czech Republic, it is not used at all in prisons and criminal justice.
As part of the project, we will build on our existing activities to support and empower people with a
criminal history in order to create the conditions for the involvement of the target group in advocacy
activities and taking into account the lived experience in policy-making in penal affaires and criminal
justice.

We will achieve the purpose of the project through a complex of activities that will focus on:
– developing the involvement of the target group within the RUBIKON Centrum and taking these
principles into account in our internal regulations and processes,
– increasing the competencies of selected representatives of the target group to participate in
advocacy activities,
– involvement of the target group in policy making and systemic change,
– sharing good practice in involving the target group and increasing the motivation of the professional
public to hear the voice of people with lived experience.
We will gain good practice to empower the target group from the Norwegian partner organization
Wayback, which consists exclusively of people with lived experience and which operates both in the
field of direct care and advocacy activities. Partnership with the Association of Organizations Working

We will gain good practice to empower the target group from the Norwegian partner organization

Wayback, which consists exclusively of people with lived experience and which operates both in the

field of direct care and advocacy activities. Partnership with the Association of Organizations Working in

Penal Affaires (AOOV) and cooperation with the Yellow Ribbon Run platform also play an important role in

sharing good practice and disseminating outputs.

Project activities:

A1 Strengthening capacities to involve people with lived experience in systemic change and PR
Workshop with a Norwegian partner for RC employees: how to effectively and sensitively involve the
target group in advocacy work (15 participants).
Workshop for RC employees in an organization-wide meeting: sharing experiences and learning
about a new approach to CS involvement (40 participants).
Modification and creation of internal rules with regard to the involvement of CS.
Targeted support of the AOOV partner, AOOV members and other stakeholders in the form of
consultations.

A2 Mapping good practice of target group involvement and creation of a prototype of an
educational program and further professional support for people with criminal history
Collecting good practice and suggestions of the target group in the Czech Republic and abroad, focus
group with people with lived experience and experts for collecting suggestions for the educational
program.
Creation of a prototype of an educational program focused on the development of competencies and
knowledge needed for advocacy work, including a system of additional professional support for the
target group through regular intervision and supervision meetings.

A3 Implementation and evaluation of a pilot educational program for people with criminal history
Selection and recruitment of suitable participants in the program.
Implementation of a pilot basic educational program in the range of 40 hours + further support and
development of the target group. 10 people from the target group will enter the educational
program, min. 5 people will successfully complete the basic program and participate in intervision
and supervision meetings.
Evaluation of the basic educational program and further education, finalization of the portfolio and
elaboration of the program toolkit.

A4 Involvement of people with criminal history in policy making and systemic change and public
awareness
Systematic support and development of participation and involvement of the target group in
advocacy activities and public awareness. Min. 5 people with lived experience will be involved in
advocacy activities within the organization (commenting on proposals, strategies and policies,
political lobbying, including personal meetings with politicians) as well as advocacy activities,
professional meetings and output creation of the AOOV partner. They will also be involved in working
groups and advisory bodies at local or national level, active participation in the media, on social
networks and at events for the professional public.

A5 Publicity of the project and dissemination of project outputs
Introduce at least 50 unique people from the professional public to the good practice and outputs of
the project through kick-off seminar, 2 workshops and a final seminar.
Sharing good practice and project outputs with the partner AOOV and its member organizations.
Informing min. 70 people from the professional public about good practice and project outputs
through min. 4 rounds of direct mailing.

Raising awareness of the general public about the topic, the project and the donor through 3 press
releases, media outlets, the web and social networks of RC, AOOV and YRR.

A6 Organizing a Norwegian partner involvement
Wayback was chosen as a partner with regard to its unique expertise and experience in engaging
clients.

The cooperation will be beneficial for both parties, it will consist in the exchange of information and

know-how and the sharing of practice in Norway and the Czech Republic. This is a cross-cutting activity

closely related to the implementation of activities 1-5. The cooperation will be
ensured by a combination of continuous on-line communication and 3 visits of a Norwegian partner
in the Czech Republic connected with conducting workshops (A1, A5), participation in educational
program (A3) and presentation at kick-off and final seminars (A5).
Registration number: 0015/2021/ACF/4
Implementer: RUBIKON Centrum, z. ú.
Contact:
Marek Demner
+420 773 797 606
demner@rubikoncentrum.cz
Partner:
Wayback – Norwegian partner with a financial contribution
Association of Organizations Working in Penal Affaires (AOOV) – partner without financial
contribution